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HDD Prices

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When do you think the prices of HDD’s will go back down from the floods?

Different analysts are making different predictions.

Hard Drive Prices to Remain Inflated Throughout 2012(Tomshareware.com)

In Q4 2011, HDD shipments dropped by 26 percent over the same period in the previous year. Shipments will by 13 percent in Q1 and 5 percent in Q2 on an annual basis, IHS believes. In Q3, the market will stabilize and grow by 2 percent and bounce back with 49 percent in the fourth quarter of this year. Sequentially, HDD shipments are predicted to climb 14 percent in Q1, 11 percent in Q3 and 4 percent in Q4.

“The recovery of global HDD manufacturing has begun and will continue during each quarter of 2012, however, the recovery will be prolonged for at least two more quarters, as supply constraints keep unit shipments from climbing on an annual basis until third quarter.” The shortage will translate to continued inflated prices throughout 2012, the firm said.

HDD makers and component suppliers have resumed only partial production in Thailand and have shifted some of their manufacturing to other countries to alleviate the impact of the supply shortage.  According to IHS, Western Digital has been the HDD manufacturer most impacted by the floods and is not expected to return to full production until September.

IHS said that the Thailand flood has caused the global average selling price (ASP) for HDDs to jump by 28 percent in Q4 2011. Prices are forecast to decline by 3 percent in Q1 and by 9 percent in Q2.

“Prices will remain high for a number of reasons, including the higher costs associated with the relocation of production, as well as higher component costs because of flooding impacts among component makers, furthermore, PC brands have signed annual contacts with HDD makers that have locked them into elevated pricing deals for the rest of the year.” noted Fang Zhang, storage analyst for IHS.

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How to Wipe A Harddrive?

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wipe harddrive I want to totally wipe my harddrive completeley and erase everything to basically make it like when I got it new. I’m not getting rid of the harddrive, I just screwed some stuff up installing the components of my new hard drive and want to start over.

The goal is to press the power button and have the PC boot up like the first time ever (which was 4 days ago) and have absolutey nothing on it except the clean factory default BIOS on the mobo.

Already backed up all my data, what’s the best way to wipe my harddrive?

COLGeeK is right. You don’t need to completely wipe it. That’s needed if you are going to, say, give a PC that used to have sensitive data on it to someone else, to make sure that the data can’t be recovered. A simple deletion of partitions is enough to let you install as if it were never there.

I wipe my hard drives with a lint-free cloth sprayed with a 5% solution of white vinegar. Either that or use the Secure Erase command via Parted Magic.

How to Wipe A Harddrive? Read More »

Seagate HDD Warranty Status

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I want my hard disk warranty status: Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1000 Gbytes
S/N : 9VPE4W6V
ST31000524AS
P/N : 9YP154-021
FIRMWARE : HP63
DATE CODE : 12133

Go here and enter the requested data: Check Seagate Warranty Status

Seagate Drives Warranty & Replacements FAQs:

1. Can I get replacement for my defective hard drive?

Replacement for your defective hard drive is possible if:

a. The hard drive is still in warranty. Visit this site: (http://support.seagate.com/customer/warranty_validation.jsp)

b. The hard drive has not failed Seagate’s Visual Mechanical Inspection (VMI)  criteria or drive has shown evidence of being opened or tampered with.

2. How do I check my hard drive warranty status?

(http://support.seagate.com/customer/warranty_validation.jsp)

3. How do I get warranty support for my defective hard drive?

a. First check if your hard drive is still in warranty (http://support.seagate.com/customer/warranty_validation.jsp)
b. If you had purchased the hard drive from an authorized Seagate distributor/reseller, you will see the warranty period.
c. You may check list of authorized distributor. http://wheretobuy.seagate.com/
d. If you purchased your PC/laptop from an OEM, you may return the PC/laptop to the OEM for the hard drive replacement
e. If you are unable to verify your warranty or if you purchased your hard drives, please contact Seagate Support at http://www.seagate.com/support/contact-support.

4. Why must I send my defective hard drive to the place of my purchase?

a. It is more cost effective to send the hard drive to a local place than overseas.
b. You can expect faster and better service.
c. Shipping delays are minimized.

5. What do I do if the reseller or Seagate Authorized Distributor refuses to accept my hard drives?

If the reseller or Seagate Authorized Distributor refuses to accept your hard drive, please contact Seagate Support at http://www.seagate.com/support/contact-support.

6. Where can I find the location to return my defective hard drives?

First check if your hard drive is still in warranty (http://support.seagate.com/customer/warranty_validation.jsp)
Go to your place of purchase for warranty service
Or check the list of Authorized Distributors.http://wheretobuy.seagate.com/

7. Previously I could create an RMA number online, but now I can’t. Why?

A more streamlined process will help ensure customers receive efficient service.
Hard drive replacement will be more efficient without expensive shipping cost to you.

8. How does the present change in return process benefit me?

The turn-around time for hard drive replacement may be faster if your place of purchase has stock available on-hand.

You will not incur expensive overseas shipping cost.

9. What does Seagate warranty not cover?

The following “Limited Consumer Warranty Information” describes Seagate’s standard limited warranty. For complete warranty information, consumers should review the warranty materials included with their product. Warranty coverage may differ depending on jurisdiction.

What Do Our Warranties Usually Cover? Our limited warranties cover defects in material or workmanship in new Seagate or Maxtor products. Only consumers purchasing Seagate or Maxtor products from authorized Seagate retailers or resellers may obtain coverage under our limited warranties. Please see the limited consumer warranty that accompanied your product for the specific warranty terms that apply to your product.

How Long Does The Coverage Last? Our warranty periods are 1 year, 2 years, 3 years or 5 years from the documented date of purchase, depending on the type of product and where it was purchased.

What Does Our Warranty Not Cover? Our warranties do not cover any problem that is caused by (a) commercial use; accident; abuse; neglect; shock; electrostatic discharge; heat or humidity beyond product specifications; improper installation; operation; maintenance or modification; or (b) any misuse contrary to the instructions in the user manual; or (c) loss passwords; or (d) malfunctions caused by other equipment. Our limited warranties are void if a product is returned with removed, damaged or tampered labels or any alterations (including removal of any component or external cover). Our warranties do not cover data loss – back up the contents of your drive to a separate storage medium on a regular basis. Also, consequential damages; incidental damages; and costs related to data recovery, removal and installation are not recoverable under our warranties.

10. Why does Seagate constantly change its warranty/RMA processes?

Seagate is committed to providing best in class customer experience. From time to time Seagate modifies and enhances the processes or policies in order to provide best in class customer experience.

The current change is only an enhancement to streamline the return policy, offering benefits and services to the customers.

Seagate HDD Warranty Status Read More »

HDD Makes Random Clicks When Windows is Booting

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When I boot my computer up in the morning, my hard drive(Maxtor 500 GB) makes random clicks as it loads windows. I never seem to notice it making those sounds once windows is booted up or if I restart the computer after it has been running for a while. Only when it starts up cold. I have also noticed that occasionally the MSE icon won’t load into the tray, even though the program is running and is set to display in the tray. A restart fixes that issue.

Is there something wrong with my drive? Should I be looking into buying a new drive and having the old one copied over to it? Or is this nothing to really worry about? It has been doing this since at least June of 2011 with no changes.

At a minimum backup the data you do not want to lose. You might even want to clone your HDD to another HDD. It sounds like yours is dying.

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Primary/Secondary IDE Master

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With a SATA DVD burner and 2 IDE drives, can I run primary/secondary masters? if so would it be more efficient than primary master/slave that I run now.

setup: SAmsung SATA burner, WD Cavier 120gb 7200rpm (OS) Seagate Barracuda 7200(storage) Abit NF-95 MB

I know that running a sata HD would be the best idea, but funds haven’t been made available for it yet.  And Yeah I know the NF-95 is anceint as well. I was just wondering if using both IDE ports would  speed up read write just a bit or not.

For the most part it won’t make a difference. The only time it would matter is if you are doing disk to disk copy. Reading a game file off a disk won’t have any differences same as saving a file. But IDE can only read/write to one drive at a time. So if you copy from one disk to another it will be faster if each drive was a master on a different channel.

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New Secondary SATA Hard Drive not Recognised

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I have installed a second HDD in Win7 – a WD caviar green. I couldn’t see it at all but have sorted it via diskmgmt.msc and can see it there. When I go into ‘Computer’ it’s not there. I can list the directory using command prompt and can even see it if I go into start:search and usr its drive letter (R. I can even open a word document and save it as Rnnnn and then open it again from Rnnnn. How can I get the drive letter to appear when I go into ‘Computer’? I note that in diskmgmt it is shown as ‘New Volume(R’ and I think that as it’s been intialised, formatted, etc.. it should not be classed as ‘New Volume’.

Go to diskmanagement, and report back the info you see there. In the bottom graphic section, you should have 2 HDD listed, one is Disk 0 which should be your system drive. In the Disk box to the left of the Volume strip, it should say Disk 0, System, Active, Boot, Page file, Primary Partition.

Below that should be your WD Green drive. I’m assuming it has been formatted with NTFS. In the Disk box, it should be Disk 1, Basic, Online.

In the volume section to the right, it should say “New Volume” because you haven’t given it a “Friendly Name” yet, and probably does not have a drive letter assigned to it. Right click in this area, and give it a name, like “BackUp” and then assign it a drive letter, like “K”, one that is not assigned to another drive. If it hasn’t be formatted, you can do it there from the context menu. Formatting places the NTFS file system on the drive, and will wipe out any data you have on the drive. When all done, it should read xx GB, NTFS, Healthy (Pimary Partition).
With the “Friendly Name” and drive letter assignment, it should show up in the Windows Explorer just like you system drive.

All the above has been done -the volume is ‘New Volume (R, Layout simple, Type Basic, File System NTFS, Status Healthy (Primary Active Partition)… capacity 100% free.

Not sure if that solved the problem or not. Is there anything on this new WD Green drive?

The information you list here makes me think this disk was installed as a Dynamic drive. The Layout Simple is a Dynamic Disk Configuration, and this drive should Not be an Active Partition.

Consider disconnecting this new WD HDD, and make sure your Windows 7 works properly without it. With your computer off, just unplug the power plug from the back of the drive temporarily and boot up.

If all OK, consider starting over with it. In DiskMgmt, make sure you selected the secondary drive, then delete the volume, and reformat it with NTFS. It should be a Basic Disk.

When finished give it a friendly name and a drive letter. Don’t mark it as Dynamic or Active.

Then it will show up as a NamedDrive with a DriveLetter in Windows Explorer

I have done as you suggested and started over again – with the same outcome. The Disk Management screen gives me the following :

Drive Layout Type FileSys Status
Disk 0 C : Simple Basic NTFS Healthy, Boot, Page file, Crash dump, Primary Partition
(online)

Disk 1 R : Simple Basic NTFS Healthy, Primary Partition
(online)

I can’t see any reference to ‘Dynamic’ or ‘Active’.

The R: disk is usable but just does not show up in Windows Explorer when I click onto Start : Computer.
Just to prove the point that it is installed, I did the following :

I used DOS command prompt and entered R:\>dir which returns ‘Volume in drive R is New Volume : Volume serial number is 040f- A62B : File not found. So the drive is there and recognisable.

If I click on start/computer I have the title ‘Hard Drives 1’ with just my C drive displayed (no sign of the R: drive), and this is the problem.

While still in Start/Computer, if I click on the top command line (where it says ‘computer’) and enter R: I get the contents of the new volume displayed – ‘$RECYCLE BIN’ and ‘System Volume Information’.

If I create a Word document I can save it to the R: disk (by entering ‘save as: R:nnn) and can retrieve and delete it.

It doesn’t make sense to me.

The new HDD disk status looks good and it does have an NTFS file system. It just does not have the assigned drive letter visible and no friendly name.

When you check in DiskMgmt, in the lower graphic section, does your system drive C: have just one large partition, or when you installed Win-7 did it place the 100MB (system reserved) partition first that says “system, active, primary partition”? There has to be an active partition, where the BIOS looks first for the OS.

Also, do you have a DVD or CD attached to this computer, that shows up in “Computer”, or in DiskMgmt?

In regard to the new green drive, check on two things. In the Disk status area, where it says Disk 1, right click and see if there is a choice of “change to dynamic disk, or change to basic disk” there. That should tell you if it was set up as a basic (static) disk, or a dynamic disk.

Also I wonder if it could have been set up as a mounted drive, pointing to an empty folder on the C: drive. So in DiskMgmt, click on the volume area of this drive, to the right of Disk 1, and right click for the context menu. Choose change Drive letter or path, and choose a different drive letter for it, like S. Then click on properties, and on the General Tab, give it a “friendly name” like BackUp Disk, or whatever.

See if that will cause proper identification of the drive.

I followed your suggestions. I’ve tabulated the actions, below:

1. In diskmngt the lower graphic section has –

Disk 0, C: and the drive has –
System reserved 100mb NTFS (healthy, active, Primary Partition) and
934.41gb NTFS, Healthy (boot, Page file, crash dump, Primary partition)

Disk 1, R: and the drive has –
4563.63gb NTFS, Healthy (Primary partition)

2. The DVD attached to this computer shows up in “Computer” as – C: DVD r/w drive
and in DiskMgmt as CD-ROM 0 DVD (D: ) No Media

3. In the Disk status area, where it says Disk 1 it says “convert to dynamic disk”

4. As suggested I have successfully changed the drive letter to ‘S’ and the name to ‘General Storage’

……………..AND BINGO !!!!!! I can now see the S Drive!

New Secondary SATA Hard Drive not Recognised Read More »

How To Format a Hard Drive?

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I just sold my western digital caviar blue 500gb and I want to know how to clear everything off of it using the same computer its in now? Any recommended programs?

Formatting a PC (really formatting a hard drive or hard disk) in a Windows environment is a pretty easy operation, while formatting at boot with a floppy or CD / DVD, is more involved.

How To Format a Hard Drive?

Format a Secondary Hard Drive

Formatting a secondary hard drive can happen from within Windows. Anything that is stored on the Windows drive (the “C:” drive) can remain, though it’s always a good idea to back up (remember that previous section?).

Open up My Computer, from either the desktop or the Start menu. Look for your drive in the list. If it’s the C: drive, you’ll need to move on to the next section. If it’s a CD or DVD drive, or a removable drive, the directions may be different.

Find the secondary hard drive and right-click. Choose the Format option and follow the directions. If there are additional partitions on the drive, you’ll need to first remove them before formatting. A partition separates a physical hard drive into multiple virtual drives.

Like any formatting, you will lose anything on the drive, including all partitions. Make sure you understand what files are on a drive before formatting.

Format Your Main Drive

Since you’ll be deleting your current Windows installation, you are unable to format from within Windows. Intead, you will boot up your computer from the Windows CD.

Turn on your computer and look for options to boot from the CD. There will usually be a message telling you to press a function key. Consult your PC manual if you have trouble booting from the CD.

You’ll feel like you’re being welcomed to DOS, with simple text on the screen. You can use the arrow keys to make your selections. The first thing you’ll need to do is delete any partitions. A partition separates a physical hard drive into multiple virtual drives.

Highlight the “C:” drive with the arrow keys, type “D” to delete, then confirm with the “L” key. Now you’ll no longer see any partitions and instead see unpartitioned space. Highlight this section and press the “C” key to create a new partition, which is where you will install Windows. Give it the maximum amount of space (unless you have the need for multiple partitions, which you probably do not).

To install Windows, select your newly created partition and press enter. You’ll want to format the hard drive as NTFS, but don’t choose the quick option (might as well go all the way here).

At this point, the drive will be formatted and then Windows will install. It will take a long time, but you’ll need to check in on it several times to enter information or reboot.

Once Windows is installed, the harder part will be getting everything set up the way you want it. You’ll need to install drivers, programs, and recover the backup of your personal files. Of course, the good news is that you’ll be doing it from a computer that is as fast as it will ever be.

How To Format a Hard Drive? Read More »

WD Drives Caviar Blue vs Green vs Black

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A coworker asked me, and other than the cache size and power consumption, i wasn’t sure what else to answer… What is the difference between the colors of Caviar drives? I’ve been under the impression it is primarily the power consumption but I have to assume there are other things as well.

Performance. The Black is optimized for performance at the expense of noise and power consumption, the blue is a general use drive, designed to be a good balance of performance, power consumption, and noise, and the green is designed to use as little power and make as little noise as possible at the expense of performance.

I’m having a dilemma of choosing which version of Caviar for storage/backup purposes.

I need a HDD which is stable, durable and can last for a longer time.
I’ll only use this HDD for backing up my important data once a week, which means I’ll just leave it unplug at the rest of the time.

I plan to go for an internal HDD with an external dock, which I think it will be more flexible switching between IN/EXternal usage and getting emergency backup when the HDD encounters any bad sector issues.

For my understanding, a LOW RPM HDD will definitely be more stable than a HIGH RPM HDD. Is it true?

Through my experience, I’ve a 2009 Caviar Blue, which doesn’t has any issue until today, while I have a couple units of Caviar Black 2009 FALS & 2010 FAEX which encountered with some issues (through checking via HD Tune). Beside that, I’ve also used Caviar Green before, but I felt it is slow when the drive turns from idle to active due to the energy saving technology in it? Correct me if I’m wrong.

So, based on my requirement, which version of Caviar suit me most and which should I go for? Green, Blue, or Black ?

Any of those HDD’s will be stable, each are as likely to break as each other. Only difference is price and performance.

Greens – slow, minimal energy savings (nowhere near worth the loss of performance), generally same price.
Blue – Mid-range, average performance.
Blacks – Faster and more expensive.

There are also Red drives, which are a mix of Green and Blue and optimized for mass storage (talking large scale business server stuff). They have no real use in desktops though.

WD Drives Caviar Blue vs Green vs Black Read More »

IDE To SATA Controller

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Do you know what the IDE to SATA Adapter is for a dimension 4600, or if there is one?

Here is an adapter for everything lol:

KINGWIN ADP-06 SATA to IDE Bridge Board (Newegg.com)

Suitability: All SATA devices
Interface: 7 + 15 pin SATA
OS Compatibility: Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP/Vista
SATA to IDE Bridge Board
Convert all SATA devices to IDE
Support all SATA devices (H.D.D.)

Sometimes they phrase it different just read description which way it converts.

IDE To SATA Controller Read More »

SSD for Primary Work HDD?

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SSD I wanted to get another year or two out of my work laptop so I bumped the RAM to 8 GB and purchased a small (64 GB) SSD. In preparation for the install, I have been browsing the internet, reading up a bit.

I notice a fair amount of discussion on SSD concerning data loss and drive failure. I cant have that… I back up as much as the next guy (every several months), but I need it to be as reliable as a spinning HDD… Should I be nervous?

About the system:
HP G72 Laptop with 8 GB DDR3, 64 GB Patriot Torqx2 SSD (Windows 7/64 bit), Western Digital 500 GB (data drive)

I have used my OCZ Vertex 2 for a year and a half as my primary drive and have had no issues with it. Newer drives are even better. Here is a good place to start. Best SSDs For The Money

SSD for Primary Work HDD? Read More »

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